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13) Replace the SSD and Hard Drive Trays With the drives installed, it's time for the trays to back into the case. Grip the tray by the angled front ends, pushing them together (the way you did when you were removing the trays the first time), and line it up with the channel in the drive well. Then just push the tray in until it clicks. If it doesn't go in easily, you may need to press a bit harder on the posts securing the drive in the tray. If they're sticking out even just a couple of millimeters too much, the tray might not slide all the way in.

14) Connect the Power Cables Now that all the components are in place, we can start connecting everything. The large 24-pin plug goes into the receptacle on the large right side of the motherboard. You'll also need to run a second cable to the jack in the upper-left corner; in this case, it's an eight-pin 12V plug you "make" by pressing together two four-pin plugs that are permanently attached to the PSU. (Some motherboards, usually older or less powerful ones, require only a single four-pin plug.) Also connect your SATA power plugs to your optical, hard, and solid-state drives; they connect to the larger of the two jacks there. Finally, connect the four-pin Molex plug to the connector from the front panel (this powers those fans and some of the case's other front-panel features).

15) Connect the Data Cables You'll need three SATA data cables to get all your drives connected to your motherboard. Connect one end to the smaller SATA plug on a drive, and the other to the SATA port on the inside-right edge of the motherboard. Then repeat with the other two drives. One note: It doesn't matter with the optical drive, but be sure to connect the hard drive and SSD to the 6Gbps SATA III motherboard jacks (the two white ones). This will ensure you get the fastest performance from both. You may also be tempted to reuse SATA data cables, which is fine, but verify first that you're using SATA III cables for the same two drives so you don't create any additional bottlenecks.

16) Connect the Front-Panel Cables and Wires Taking advantage of the H2's various front-panel features means you'll need to connect the various cables and wires that let them work. Two are clearly labeled USB; plug these into the headers located near the bottom edge of the motherboard (USB 1 and USB 2 are good choices). If you want to use the headphone and microphone jacks, you can connect those by plugging in the HD Audio plug (not the one that says AC'97, though they're tied together) into the F_AUDIO header in the extreme lower-left corner. The external hard drive dock is a nice addition to the H2, but you'll need to connect that as well—just run the cable to one of your free SATA ports, just as you did when you connected the internal drives. Last but not least is the USB 3.0 port. Because the H2 was released at the tail end of the period before the spec for USB 3.0 motherboard headers had been approved, it doesn't let you connect it that way. Instead, you'll have to plug the blue cable (already helpfully running out the back of the case) into a spare USB 3.0 port on the motherboard's rear panel. It's a bit of an inconvenience—not least because the Gigabyte motherboard has a free header—but if you have devices that run across USB 3.0, the interface is fast enough to be worth the annoyance. Near the bank in the lower-inside corner of the motherboard you'll see a diagram that explains which front-panel wire (power switch, reset button, and so on) goes where. Connect the wires to the appropriate pins and you should be set. Some of the wires will only work properly in one direction; look at the motherboard manual for guidance if you have any question about what goes where.

Matthew Murray got his humble start leading a technology-sensitive life in elementary school, where he struggled to satisfy his ravenous hunger for computers, computer games, and writing book reports in Integer BASIC. He earned his B.A. in Dramatic Writing at Western Washington University, where he also minored in Web design and German. He has been building computers for himself and others for over 15 years, and spent several years working in IT and helpdesk capacities before escaping into the far more exciting world of journalism....
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